1 / 24

Understanding Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

Explore Piaget's Constructivism theory where children actively create knowledge. Learn about stages, mechanisms of change, equilibration, and criticisms in cognitive development.

mkelley
Download Presentation

Understanding Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cognitive Development - Piaget • Piaget

  2. Constructivism • The belief that children actively create knowledge rather than passively receiving it from the environment. • Knowledge is constructed from experience • Born with ability and desire to learn. • Must be active to learn. • Thinking/learning is internalization of physical knowledge.

  3. Adaptation • Fundamental process by which schemes are altered through experience. • Comprised of two complementary processes.

  4. Mechanisms of Change • Assimilation: information that fits into existing cognitive structure • schemas

  5. Mechanisms of Change • Accommodation: changing beliefs to fit new conceptual information

  6. Equilibration • Equilibration: regulatory process that maintains a functional balance between assimilation and accommodation

  7. Process of Equilibration • Children are satisfied with mode of thought (equilibrium) • Become aware of shortcomings in existing knowledge (disequilibrium) • Adopt a more sophisticated mode of thought (return to equilibrium)

  8. Figure - Equilibration

  9. Characteristics of Stages of Cognitive Development • Each stage represents a qualitative change in thinking • Culturally Invariant • Includes structures and abilities of previous stages

  10. Stages of Cognitive Development • Sensorimotor • Preoperational • Concrete Operational • Formal Operational

  11. Sensorimotor Stage • Birth to 2 years of age • Use senses, motor skills to gain knowledge

  12. Piaget – Object Permanence

  13. Preoperational Stage • 2 to 6/7 years • Representational skills • Egocentric thought • Magical thought • Animism

  14. Concrete Operational • 6/7 to 11/12 years • Understand concrete problems • Decentration

  15. Conservation

  16. Formal Operations • 11/12 years through adulthood • Logical and abstract thought • Adolescent egocentrism: Elkind • Imaginary Audience • Personal Fable

  17. EVALUATION OF PIAGET’S THEORY:Strengths • Children do move from being more egocentric to less egocentric • Also move from being less systematic and able to use logic to being better able to think in these ways • Children do pass through stages in same order • Constructivistic view of development

  18. Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory • Findings may only work with Piaget’s tasks • Can have skills characteristic of two stages at one time period

  19. Criticisms cont. • Not all reach formal operational stage

  20. Postformal thought • Characterized by recognition that: • 1) truth may vary from situation to situation • 2) solutions must be realistic in order to be reasonable • 3) ambiguity and contradiction are the rule rather than the exception • 4) emotion and subjective factors usually play a role in thinking

  21. Themes • Continuity vs. Discontinuity • Nature vs. Nurture

  22. Schaie’s Perspective on Adult Cognitive Changes • Achieving stage (early adulthood) • Responsibility stage (early to middle adulthood) • Executive stage (middle adulthood) • Reintegrative stage (late adulthood)

  23. William Perry • Adolescents: dualistic thinking • Young adults • Multiple thinking • Relative subordinate thinking • Full relativism

More Related